To assess the impacts of different cultivation systems on the characteristics of space-time dynamics
on soil moisture and water use efficiency (WUE)，which could be helpful for increasing grain yield and WUE in
dryland maize production in semi-arid regions，a field trial was conducted at the Changwu experimental station in
2012 and 2013． Four treatments were carried out including farmers’practice(N 200 kg·hm
－2 ，ridges covered
with plastic film，CK)，T1 treatment (N 380 kg·hm
－2 ，ridges and furrows both covered with plastic film)，T2
treatment (N 225 kg·hm
－2
+ Organic fertilizer，ridges and furrows both covered with plastic film)，T3 treatment
(N 225 kg·hm
－2
+ Organic fertilizer，ridges and furrows both covered with plastic film and removing plastic film
at silking stage)． Compared to farmers’practice，T1，T2 and T3 treatments could not only efficiently use water in
the 0 ～100 cm soil layers，but also use water in the 100 ～200 cm soil layers． At harvest，no significant differences
in soil water content were observed between treatments． Water consumption levels during the whole growing stage of
the four treatments were in the order of T3 ＞ T2 ＞ T1 ＞ CK，and the grain yields followed the same． Because the
rate of yield increase was higher than that of water consumption，the water use efficiencies of the four treatments
were also found to be in the same order as T3 ＞ T2 ＞ T1 ＞ CK． In conclusion，the cultivation systems that ridges and furrows both were covered with plastic film improved not only grain yield but also water use efficiency，espe-
cially in the plots where plastic film was removed at the silking stage． This cultivation system could be helpful for
increasing grain yield and WUE of dryland maize in semi-arid regions．